Monster Garage: Santa float gone wrong.
On this episode of Monster
Garage, Jesse arranges a team to build a little something for the
holidays. A parade float of a different sort will arise from a 1986
Pontiac Firebird disguised as a Ferrari Testarossa. As usual they have
$5000 and seven days to create a truly evil Santa float. The prize is
a $3400 set of Mack tools.
Christopher Lowell from his own decorating show on Discovery Channel
arrives driving the beast itself to the shop where it promptly breaks
down. It is pushed its final leg onto the lift and he heads upstairs
to help design the float. Lowell is used to making things look beautiful.
Unfortunately, that is the exact opposite of what possesses Jesse James’
mind. Sugar and spice and everything nice are out the window. Evil Santa
prevails as the final design. It will start out lying flat on the float
then rise bending at the knee to reveal a haunting skull faced Santa
from the dead. Once it has risen, candy will shoot from his hands into
the crowd. The float is made of ¼” steel rod covered with
window screen then covered in a plastering material.
The team consists of Mike Gillespie Sr., float builder of San Gabriel,
California, son Mike Gillespie Jr., general automotives guy from Sierra
Madre, California, and has dabbled in the float business, Ian Johnson,
high-school automotive instructor from Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada,
Jeff Covey, a custom fabricator and race car builder from Middleville,
Michigan, Garth McCrohan, a pro welder and float fabricator from El
Cajon, and Gary Twemlow, expert float builder and rod sculptor/foam
carver from Duarte, California. Jesse greets the team and lays out the
plan for destruction. Jesse would like to shorten the whole chassis
so he could do 360-degree turns.
A Christmas present arrives, Body Drop, window-tinting business owner,
San Luis Obispo, Calif. and return guest on Monster Garage and of Jesse
James, dressed as an elf pops out of a box. He will help with the build.
The team dismantles the car piece by piece. Body Drop wreaks havoc on
the team by unplugging the cords. They are unfazed. Next, Ian checks
the engine. He is qualified to be on this tem since he is an auto shop
teacher in Canada. The team divides into two groups: one to work on
the motor and the other to focus on the float.
On the first build day Gary expresses his concerns about the float.
Most notably the weight of the Santa compared to weight of the chassis
and the mechanics of the Santa bending at the knee. Mike Sr. and Gary
salvage two hydraulic arms from the first Monster Garage failure, Hearse
Revisited. Ian works on engine and gets it started. They then work on
cutting the frame down into two pieces. Garth cuts out the rear axle
from the car and saves it for their new shortened car. Monster builders
head home for the night.
Build day two arrives and Gary lays out Santa head on the ground then
lays rod out over the chalking. Jesse notices a flaw in the construction
of the float. It may not be a Harley or a Chopper but the man is till
a genius. As is, when Santa rises, he will expose a big hole where the
engine is. In order to remedy this, they must enlarge the Santa to almost
25 ft tall and flip it around so its boots cover the engine. Gary has
to start over. Ian unwraps the fuel cell but cant put it in until the
drive shaft is done. The hydraulic arms are complete and loaded on the
chassis. The car team is almost there once the fuel cell is installed.
They call is a day but see what Gary has created which is the framing
of Santa.
On build day three, Ian reattaches the car computer and the car starts
right up. Jesse begins a search for a gearbox. They find a throttle
and steering box. Body drop delivers batteries to the team. Ian is having
problems with the steering box and the wheels aren’t spinning.
Gary moves on to the candy shooting mechanism. Gary then continues on
Santa’s frame. Ian takes on the challenge of the cannons to shoot
the candy and it is really giving them problems. They all call it a
day and decide to start fresh again on build day four.
The sun rises and the build day begins. The car crew pulls the car
outside where the remainder of the build will happen. Ian has the cannons
under control and attached carbon dioxide to shoot the candy. Body Drop
gives a demonstration and it really flies. A lot of sculpting remains
and Gary gets the screen from Monster Elf. Gary really wants to put
out a good float but they head home again.
Final build day arrives and Jesse brings in nice wheels in red and
green with new tires to roll in. They all chip in and start screening
the float. The team reminisce of Christmas past and work on the float
together. The final piece of screen is attached and cannons are loaded
up. Ian drives the float onto the street and it is successful. Even
the hydraulic arms and candy cannons work. The team is done and unwrap
their tools.
Now that the build is done, the float heads out to Phoenix Decorating
Company where it will be painted and made into the evil Santa of Jesse
James demented mind. Build costs are $1468 in cold hard cash, $17,000
in Freebies and $3000 for the car. Total is $21,468.00, not counting
the work on the chassis done at West Coast Choppers. But c’mon
what’s the L.B.C. without a little WCC charity.
The evil Santa float makes it debut at the Pasadena Doo dah parade.
Not your everyday, run of the mill parade. This one is full of freaks
so the float should fit right in. Jesse hugs a few dudes dressed as
chipmunks and finally the Santa is loaded with candy and raised to its
candy shooting position. It showers the crown with the goodies and they
eat it up. Santa is coming to town and you better be scared.
As with all Monster Garage episodes, teams jump some enormous hurdles.
Case in point, this Santa float. According the show notes on Discovery.com,
the biggest challenge was building the Santa Claus frame cage and making
sure that the final products artistic and mechanical requirements were
met. It was really important to have the talent these guys possessed.
Without them it could have been a disaster. Jesse James from West Coast
Choppers, demented dream of a truly scary Santa came true.
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